"At This Moment I Became Quiet As a Mouse and Humbler Than the Dust..." How Karjakin Eliminated Andreikin

Another tiebreak match of the 1/8 finals was deciding who of two Russian GMs would stay in Baku and who would start packing his luggage - Sergey Karjakin or Dmitry Andreikin.

At that moment neither Karjakin nor Giri could be sure they will talk to each other in the playing hall again

Alexander Bakh to Dmitry Andreikin: "Castling with both hands? Not recommended..."

"I have such a bad score against Andreikin in rapid and blitz as well as in classical games that I took the tiebreak pretty calmly, - the winner told Chess-News after everything had been over. - Although seriously speaking, I think I am not bad in rapid so it wasn't my ultimate goal to defeat him in classical games. He didn't play for a win in the first classical clash, and I tried to push a little in the return game but he played very accurately. Thus, the equal score was logical."

In the first rapid game, I chose a long fight by playing 1.c4. Its result decided the outcome of the match. Objectively, Andreikin had a big advantage, but mutual time trouble made it clear we were playing on three results. His 40...e5 was a blunder and after 41.Ne3 I was already better. He also blundered a nice blow afterwards...

KARJAKIN - ANDREIKIN

After taking 43.Ng4xe5 I already saw I had Qh8+. At this moment I became quiet as a mouse and humbler than the dust. I hoped he would blunder and that happened.
43...Rc8-c3? 44.Qh8+!
I knew that I might have been better even without that blow, but it would still be pretty complicated.." 1-0

Listen to Karjakin's full commentary (in Russian) in the audio player.

"I take this competition pretty philosophically, - Karjakin confesses. - I could lose against Onischuk. The match against the Chinese player went well but you can't always win in the classical games. Regarding the today's match, I thought if it was written I would be eliminated. I fought till the end and I am happy to advance to the next round."

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GM Sergey Karjakin is one of the heroes of the second round of the FIDE World Cup. After losing his first classical game against Alexander Onischuk, Russian GM managed to take a revenge in the return game. Today he beat Onischuk on the tiebreak.

FIDE World Cup 2015 taking place in Baku has entered its final stage - the match of 4 classical games between Peter Svidler and Sergey Karjakin will determine the winner of the competition just in a few days.